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Parent Information

Dear Pioneer Parents,
 
Last year, the faculty and staff at Bidwell spoke about a desire to better service students—regardless of their grades-- in order to prepare them for high school.  We want to know we did all we could for them during their time here and iReady is the program we believe is the most beneficial. 
 
What is iReady?
 
iReady is a computer based program which measures your student's math and reading levels. The program started in early September, when students took a diagnostic test to determine what level they were at.  iReady is an adaptive program, meaning the difficulty of the questions change based on previous answers.  This allows a lot of fine-tuning when it comes to accurately pinpointing where your student is at, as well as finding out exactly what their gaps are when it comes to learning in math and reading.  
 
Who is in iReady classes?
 
If your son or daughter is in an iReady class, they are in good company.  Approximately 2/3 of our school population is in an iReady course.  Some are straight A students who need just a little bit of help to get them where they should be, while others need more intervention.  The point is that the diagnostic exam revealed some gaps in their learning and iReady gives us the ability to address those shortcomings individually for each student with customized lessons target just for them.  
 
Why should my student do this?
 
Speaking from personal experience, I had gaps in my math ability starting in 6th grade that were never addressed.  Those gaps affected my confidence in school, my grades, and ultimately the time I had to spend in college because it took me longer to get through math courses (sometimes having to repeat them because the concepts were harder to grasp at an older age!).  When I think about iReady, I think about students having the opportunity to get their shortcomings addressed NOW, instead of wondering why they’re struggling later. 
 
How will this affect their school day?
 
Students will do their iReady lessons during Primetime, which is already built into their school day four days a week.  They are not missing out on any of their other classes in order to have this targeted instruction.  
 
We will have another diagnostic test at the end of January/beginning of February, which will determine if students have improved. If they've reached grade level, they will be moved into an AR class.  
 
We are excited and hopeful as we launch this new program and we truly hope it will help students excel!  
 
Thank you.
 

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